Refurbished Sirens Installed in Ocean City, Maryland

[EastCoastFilmer]

I was staying in Ocean City this week when I noticed a freshly restored 2T22 recently installed at the fire department headquarters. Almost immediately, I walked over to get a closer look. It was placed next to a small outbuilding in the fire department parking lot, and the top horns appear to have some sort of eyelash-looking contraptions attached to the top of them. Not really sure what that's all about; perhaps to deter birds from building nests would be my best guess. This may possibly be the 2T22 that used to be near the boardwalk.

Later on, I noticed another fresh install at the Ronald E. Powell Convention Center near the water tower. The siren here appears to possibly be the siren that was once mounted on the old water tower that once stood behind the fire department headquarters, and I believe it is a WWII-era Model 7. It has clearly had a new housing fabricated, and it doesn't look like they bothered to paint it before putting it up.

As for the existing 3T22 on 100th Street, it's still kicking, but the birds nest on top is bigger than ever, and it's almost completely covered in rust. There's a 3-way junction box at the top of the pole with some cut wires coming from one end; not sure where they once went as the other 2 junctions are connecting power to the siren. It's been that way for years now, and the siren is still sounding.

Ocean City sounds their sirens for structure fires and also has them available as community alert sirens, however, I am unsure if they are tested. Ocean City is in Worcester County, and the county tests their sirens on the 1st Saturday of the month at 10 AM, however, the city's sirens failed to sound today when the test occurred. So I instead managed to grab a few photos of all 3 sirens around the city.

0DC3C63A-F545-4887-809A-DB6FB4B910A3 by Ethan K, on Flickr
D9AB5455-7848-4EB4-BC97-E06F8EB52C9C by Ethan K, on Flickr
4C5573FB-1532-4EF0-AB9B-2AB6912C3CF9 by Ethan K, on Flickr
69F11446-CC42-4261-BC13-FDBD84EB0458 by Ethan K, on Flickr
886BF36B-E2BB-4750-98FD-C568CE7CE555 by Ethan K, on Flickr

[archizackture]

Fantastic! Always great to see old things made new again.

Also interesting that Ocean City uses their sirens for fire calls, since electronic communication shouldn't be much of a problem there. I can see the benefit of the city's vacationers being made aware of a fire or other emergency happening so they can be wary for emergency vehicles and disaster sites and such.
I did hear the Model 7 go off once when my family was vacationing there years ago. I was much younger and knew basically nothing about sirens, and I only know it was the Model 7 because I remember it sounding identical to the Model 5 in my grandmother's neighborhood.

I have another memory of my family driving to a restaurant somewhere in the city and when we stopped at a traffic light, I saw a siren with a row of horns (like an STH or xT22, though I only saw one row) VERY close to the car, as if it was mounted right on the highway. It was nighttime and there was enough illumination to see the siren clearly. It's possible that I was just too young to have good spacial recognition, and/or my memory is fuzzy and a bit distorted. I was like 10 years old. But just for giggles, do you have any idea whether I saw the 100th Street siren or if there was some other that I saw?

Also, do you know the exact location of the former boardwalk siren? I don't remember seeing it but something might jog my memory.

[EastCoastFilmer]

Also interesting that Ocean City uses their sirens for fire calls, since electronic communication shouldn't be much of a problem there. I can see the benefit of the city's vacationers being made aware of a fire or other emergency happening so they can be wary for emergency vehicles and disaster sites and such.

They’re only used for structure fires, and the run cards for a structure fire bring a very significant response. Sounding the sirens for those calls notifies those volunteer firefighters who don’t have their pagers or phones handy; sometimes it makes the difference between a full crew to get a piece of fire apparatus on the street. Since there’s a career engine crew at Ocean City stations however, the sirens aren’t needed for as many calls as other places. And as you said, it also notifies people to be alert for fire apparatus and volunteers responding to the station in their personal vehicles.

I have another memory of my family driving to a restaurant somewhere in the city and when we stopped at a traffic light, I saw a siren with a row of horns (like an STH or xT22, though I only saw one row) VERY close to the car, as if it was mounted right on the highway. It was nighttime and there was enough illumination to see the siren clearly. It's possible that I was just too young to have good spacial recognition, and/or my memory is fuzzy and a bit distorted. I was like 10 years old. But just for giggles, do you have any idea whether I saw the 100th Street siren or if there was some other that I saw?

Also, do you know the exact location of the former boardwalk siren? I don't remember seeing it but something might jog my memory.

I’m wondering if that may be the boardwalk siren you’re referring to. It was a 2T22 located at Worcester Street & Philadelphia Avenue next to a water tower that used to be there; it’s former site has been paved over for use as a parking lot. That was the only siren I know of that was right along the highway. I’m also curious if that siren is the one that went up at the HQ.

[archizackture]

I’m wondering if that may be the boardwalk siren you’re referring to. It was a 2T22 located at Worcester Street & Philadelphia Avenue next to a water tower that used to be there; it’s former site has been paved over for use as a parking lot. That was the only siren I know of that was right along the highway. I’m also curious if that siren is the one that went up at the HQ.

Interesting. Yeah I'm not sure. I remember seeing it when we were stopped at a stoplight, and there isn't a light near that intersection as far as I can see in Street View (looks like the siren was captured in 2008 imagery though). I also think we were heading toward the north end of the city for dinner so the boardwalk area doesn't seem right to me. That's why I thought it might be the 100th Street siren, though it looks a lot farther from the road than I remember seeing. I could have sworn at the time that the siren was in the median strip. But again, I was very young and the world in general looked very different. It's completely plausible that I saw the 100th Street siren.

[SirensOfNewYork]

May I ask what the second siren is? Doesn't look like any Model 5 or 2 I've ever seen.

[WPS4004Man]

He said it’s a Model 7 with a custom housing. It kind of looks like a Darley with that housing.

[EastCoastFilmer]

May I ask what the second siren is? Doesn't look like any Model 5 or 2 I've ever seen.

As far as I can tell, this appears to likely be the Model 7 that was once on the water tower at the FD headquarters, where the new 2T22 is now standing. Very unique looking for sure, even when it had its original housing! From what I read in other posts from before it was removed, I believe it is from the WWII-era and has an iron rotor. I’m therefore very curious to hear it up close, but it failed to go off for a test last weekend. You can hear it in an ambience here:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZhU5t8HDto